Venture Capital · Profile from Venture Capital Research Companion
Kaszek (formerly Kaszek Ventures)
The Latin American venture firm founded in 2011 by two MercadoLibre co-founders, which turned operator credibility and an early bet on Nubank into the region's largest and best-performing venture franchise, now running paired early-stage and "Opportunity" funds of roughly $1bn per cycle.
At a glance
- Founded
- 2011; operations across Buenos Aires, Montevideo, São Paulo and Mexico City
- Founders
- Hernán Kazah (MercadoLibre co-founder, long-time COO) and Nicolás Szekasy (former MercadoLibre CFO); the name combines their surnames (KAzah + SZEKasy)
- Headquarters
- Regional; team split between Argentina/Uruguay, Brazil and Mexico (no single head office emphasised)
- Ownership / structure
- Independent private partnership owned by its partners; funds raised as paired vehicles (Kaszek Ventures early-stage + Kaszek Ventures Opportunity for later-stage follow-ons)
- Leadership (2026)
- Co-founders Kazah (managing partner) and Szekasy (general partner); partners reported in 2021 included Nicolás Berman (ex-MercadoLibre VP), Santiago Fossatti, Andy Young and Mariana Donangelo (2026 roster: verify)
- AUM / capital raised
- ~$3.0bn of commitments across funds raised 2011–2023 (sum of reported closes); a further fundraise in 2025–26 was not confirmed (verify)
- Stage focus
- Seed to Series B in its core funds (checks of ~$0.5m–$25m); $10m–$35m follow-ons and some new growth deals from the Opportunity funds; sector-agnostic, with a heavy fintech weighting; Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Uruguay
- Signature investments
- Nubank, QuintoAndar, Kavak, Creditas, Bitso, Gympass (Wellhub), Loggi, MadeiraMadeira, PedidosYa, VivaReal, Cora, Konfio. Misses / disappointments: Netshoes (post-IPO collapse), Meli Kaszek Pioneer SPAC (liquidated), Kavak's 2025 down round
9 deals and moves analysed
Each one gets a full strategy file in the companion: context, the decision, the financing, what happened, and the lesson.
2011
PedidosYa
Early Venture
2012
Netshoes
Venture / Growth
2013
Nubank
Seed
2016
QuintoAndar
Series A
2018
Kavak
Early Venture
2019
Cora
Seed
2020
Bitso
Series B
2020
Corretora Ideal
Growth Minority
2021
Meli Kaszek Pioneer
SPAC Sponsorship